


Pure Anarchy

by dragonshost



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Humor, jackal does not handle things well, taking demons on vacation is never really a good idea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-08-01 12:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16284707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonshost/pseuds/dragonshost
Summary: Lucy finds something in her closet that leads to Jackal losing his mind.  A variety of vacation shenanigans then ensue.





	1. Chapter 1

Jackal sat, or rather, perched on the chair next to his girlfriend's bed. His tail swished as he contemplated the offensively pink duvet within his line of sight.

If he just… tossed it out the window, would Lucy notice?

"Jackal, whatever you're planning…" Lucy paused in her closet spelunking mission to turn and give her boyfriend a long, hard stare. "Don't."

He laid his ears flat against his skull. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The blonde Celestial mage's carnelian eyes bored straight into the gold ones of the blond demon sulking on her chair. "Right. Sure you don't." She returned to delve into her closet for something. "You could help me pack?" she coaxed. "After all, this vacation was your idea."

Shrugging, Jackal continued to lounge. "And I said you didn't need to bring nearly this much stuff, and yet here we are." He reached out one leg, and prodded a bag with a claw. "There's three of these things. If you don't hurry up, I'm going to start exploding things."

Lucy let out a screech of indignation. "Don't you fucking dare, Jackal!" she hissed.

Unconcerned, Jackal smirked at her. "Or what?" he taunted, prodding another bag meaningfully. "I mean… it really would be so simple to just… turn this into a small bomb…"

Eyes narrowed, Lucy threatened, "Set off another one of those damn bombs in here, and I will sic the landlady on  _you_  this time!" It was her turn to smugly watch as her boyfriend's face went an unhealthy shade of white. "Not feeling so brave now, are you?"

"I'm pretty sure that woman is another one of Zeref's demons," Jackal growled. "And nothing you say will ever convince me otherwise."

"Then don't blow things up!" Lucy shouted.

"Now that's just being unreasonable."

Giving up, Lucy extracted a large bag from the depths of her closet.

Jackal immediately took note of the closed zipper upon it, and he perked up in interest.

Then Lucy opened the bag, pulling out…

More… bags?

Lots more bags.

Huge bags.

The demon could only gape. "You have... a huge bag in your closet… full of…  _more_  large bags?!" He paused for a second. "Five of them?!"

Lucy shot him a devious grin. "Brilliant, and a stroke of genius, right?"

"Are you  _fucking_   _kidding_  me?!" Jackal yelled, completely and utterly losing it. "This is not genius! This is fucking anarchy! Pure fucking anarchy, I tell you!"

"Says the mad bomber," Lucy muttered. "Pray tell,  _how_  is this anarchy, exactly?"

" _This!_  Can't you see it?!" her boyfriend hissed, the fur on his tail standing on end. "Why would you. Place bags. Inside of. Another fucking bag? Why? Why the fuck would you do that?"

"To… save… space…?" Lucy responded.

"This is what is wrong with the human race," Jackal continued to lament. "This. Right here. This is a symbol of everything the human race has become or amounted to within the last four centuries. Why do you even own so many bags? I don't get it? And. Putting them. Inside of. Other bags? And then. Into your closet? Like? Why? Why would do you that?  _Why?!_ "

As Jackal proceeded to lose his mind – over a bunch of bags, no less – Lucy just observed him in mixed horror and amusement.

"I'd hate to see how you'd react to Moreos and None Pizza Left Beef…"


	2. Chapter 2

The cab of the extra large SE vehicle that Team Natsu had rented was crammed to beyond its full capacity long before any of the passengers climbed aboard. Suitcases and bags, the vast majority of which belonged to the scarlet haired warrior now arguing with the SE rental employee.

Lucy eyed the bulging vehicle with trepidation, her eyes sweeping between both it and the other members of the group. Calculating how to successfully stuff everyone she needed to within.

Beside her, Jackal lounged again the side of Fairy Tail's Guild Hall. Unlike his girlfriend, he was preoccupied by a butterfly's meandering path. Tilting his head up to better view the insect's progress with his unblinking, liquid gold stare, he was more or less oblivious to the world around him.

"Perhaps Mirajane and I should rent a second of these... contraptions," a silky voice spoke next to Lucy's ear, startling her a little. Hearing the Celestial mage's heartbeat pick up, Jackal blinked and glanced in her direction. Seeing that it was only Mard Geer standing placidly beside her, he returned his complete attention back to the butterfly's fluttering wings.

Smiling up at the tall, dark-haired demon, Lucy greeted, "Good morning, Mard! I didn't notice you were there, my apologies!"

He shook his head slightly, the barest hint of a smile upon his own face. "No, I should apologize for not announcing myself sooner."

"It's fine, really. So you were wondering about the SE vehicle?" Lucy ventured.

"Indeed. I must say that this is the first time I've encountered one. Do you mind explaining how it functions?"

Pleased at being asked, Lucy explained, "Basically they're like wagons. Only, instead of having a beast of burden pull one, they move by draining the driver's magical energy through that suction cufflink there." She pointed it out. "That's pretty much it, really. If you want more of the technical details, Gajeel might know something." Though getting the newly inflicted with motion-sickness Dragon Slayer anywhere near transportation these days was a tricky proposition at best.

"Interesting," Mard observed, deep in thought. "Does the source of power have to originate from the driver, or might a passenger provide the necessary...?"

"Fuel," Lucy supplied for him. "And a passenger could do it, yes. But I wouldn't recommend you or Jackal for it."

"Because we were crafted from Etherion," Mard finished.

Embarrassed, Lucy scuffed the ground with her shoe a little. "Um... yeah."

Mard's almost imperceptible smile grew. "There is no need to dance around that fact, Lucy. We are well aware of what we are, as are you and Mirajane. And yet the pair of you still put up with us, I believe is the saying."

"You've got it right."

Lucy still wasn't entirely certain what to make of Mirajane's... boyfriend? Beau? Lover? Suitor? ...Person? Demon? Honestly, she wasn't even clear on the specifics of their relationship. Only that they were in some way more than mere friends. The demon was a quiet, reserved individual, a great contrast to her own brash and loud blond boyfriend. He seemed to make Mirajane happy, though.

Mard nodded towards Erza. "I believe the Titania is almost finished."

It did seem as if Erza was wrapping things up. The renter was cowering, and the redhead seemed rather smug about something. She probably got them a price reduction, actually, so Lucy made a mental note to thank her if that was indeed the case.

The Celestial mage checked on Jackal, nearly bursting into giggles at the angle his head was cranked at to better watch the butterfly. He then leaned to the side, trying to compensate for the limitations of his spinal column.

Apparently, this was too much for his center of gravity to handle, and he fell over with an undignified squawk.

"...My boyfriend the demon lord, folks," Lucy muttered. "You know, he insists he's a canine. But all I see is genus Felidae."

"I suppose you might ask Lord Zeref which is the truth," Mard mused aloud. "Though I would not recommend that to you."

"Thank you for the head's up." Then she joked, "Normally Jackal is only that interested in something he can turn into a bomb."

"Just as well he did not catch it, then," replied Mard. "He's always been fond of turning innocuous things into bombs."

Lucy laughed at that. "Well, I'm going to go collect his bruised ego..." With that, she departed.

Mirajane then sidled up to Mard. "You and Lucy seemed like you were hitting it off!" she commented. "Talk about anything interesting?"

He nodded, peering curiously at the two blonds. "Your friend is rather strange. "She seems to find Jackal's tendency to turn butterflies into bombs hilarious."


	3. Chapter 3

In the end, Mirajane and Mard Geer were able to get a second, much smaller vehicle for themselves. Mirajane, in an aside to Lucy, whispered to that it was due to the demon being claustrophobic. Lucy, having seen the inside of Cube for herself, had the sneaking suspicion that this was very much not actually the case, but was unwilling to call out either Mirajane or Mard Geer on the deception. It was better for her continued health.

To her surprise, however, Mirajane then invited Lucy and Jackal to join them in their vehicle. Then again, maybe it wasn't such a shock given that Jackal and Mard were both not only demons, but also people you did not want to shove into extremely close quarters with a violently motion sick Natsu. Jackal's nose wouldn't be able to handle it. Besides which, it would be a good idea to have a backup human power source for the vehicle in case the drive turned out longer than anticipated.

Regardless, Lucy was pleased to be included.

That is, until about an hour in, when they all discovered that Jackal  _was_  indeed a canine after all. One that didn't take well to the jolting and shuddering of the vehicle over the largely unpaved roads of Fiore's countryside.

"Tell me again how this is different from riding with Natsu?" Lucy questioned aloud as she stroked her boyfriend's ears. Jackal's head rested in her lap, and he let out a groan as the newest wave of nausea washed over him. Lucy, knowing the drill well, had taken to trying to soothe the demon as best as she could, but there was really only so much she could accomplish without any anti-nausea medication. Even if she had any though, she wasn't sure if they would do anything to a being made largely of etherion. Too bad Wendy was in the other vehicle, which had long since disappeared into the distance at breakneck speed.

In the front of the vehicle, sitting beside Mirajane (and as far away from Jackal as he could manage in such a small space), Mard Geer was gazing off into the distance with an unfocused cast to his eyes. Mirajane resisted a giggle at the sight of the underworld king looking so out of it. "You have road trip dissociation down already," she commented lightly.

Her words snapped him back to attention, and he peered at her in curiosity. "This is a common thing?"

She nodded. "It really is. There's not much to do or look at for long stretches, so people tend to space out."

"Even the driver?"

Mirajane let out a loud laugh. "Yes, even the driver! Which can be a very bad thing, and why it's necessary to take breaks."

The demon's eyes narrowed even further, his brow scrunching slightly in thought. "Do you require one now?"

"No, not yet." Mirajane gave him a wink. "I'll let you know when it's time for one. In the meantime, do you think you could make some idle conversation with me? That would help me out immensely." It was a minor thing to ask for, but it was one she wasn't entirely certain that Mard was capable of providing. He had Erza-levels of practicality in him, and pointless conversation wasn't something he would even consider normally.

But when he nodded and agreed immediately, however, it made her heart soar.


	4. Chapter 4

“What took all of you so long?” Erza demanded as soon as Lucy’s group stepped out of their vehicle, already in her swimsuit and sporting a neon orange plastic tube around her waist, bright green flippers, and a sunshine-yellow snorkel with a mask.  She continued to stare straight at them, waiting for an answer, even as Jackal spilled inelegantly out onto the dirt and just laid there like a fuzzy lump.

Lucy rolled her eyes at her friend, and grabbed her luggage from the vehicle’s carriage.  Stepping over her unmoving boyfriend, she commented, “Mirajane may be a demon, but at least she doesn’t drive like one.”

“That was one time!” Erza protested with a sputter.  “I was trying to catch a train!  You were there, you should know!”

Mard Geer contemplated this information for a moment, before offering his two Jewels on the topic.  “That sounds insane even by my standards.”

Deciding to come to her friend’s rescue after all, Lucy rolled her shoulder in her best approximation of a shrug that she could manage with her laden arms.  “There were circumstances.”

“Circumstances,” Mard repeated, each of the syllables enunciated clearly.

Under his intense gaze, Lucy felt sweat beading on her skin. “Lullaby was involved.”

His dark eyes devoid of understanding, Mard regarded them silently for a long, heavy minute.  “Why would you try to catch up to the song of death?” he wondered aloud.  “Fairy Tail has proven to be death seekers in the past, but this seems a little extreme even for your guild.”

He had a point, unfortunately.  “I don’t know what to tell you,” Lucy stated.  “That’s just how it happened.”

“Perhaps we should carry in the luggage first,” Mirajane offered, kneeling on the ground to pat Jackal on the head while he couldn’t stop her.

“Are you calling Jackal luggage?” questioned Lucy, her voice rising in pitch with restrained laughter.

Mard Geer sighed heavily.  Then he bent down and picked his fellow demon up by his scruff before walking towards the cabin they’d rented.

When Lucy entered the cabin, she found her boyfriend lying face-down on the bed where Mard had dropped him.  At least the underworld king had been nice and had not deposited Jackal on the hardwood floor.  Although it probably wasn’t out of kindness, and more along the lines of keeping Jackal out of the way.

It did bring thoughts on Jackal and Mard Geer’s relationship to the forefront of Lucy’s mind, however.  Jackal was a little out of place among the rest of the demons of Tartarus.  For all of their destructive capabilities, for the most part the rest of demons didn’t actually utilize them very often.  Jackal, on the other hand, used his a little too often, and found much more delight in the act than in most anything else.  It made him, ironically enough, a perfect fit with Fairy Tail.  Not that Lucy would ever tell him that, of course.

Either way, Jackal remained unmoving.  That car ride had done more damage to him than Lucy had initially thought, and he would probably be useless for a good while yet.

Which was excellent, as now Lucy could unpack the bags without his interference.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day saw Jackal outright balking at the prospect of entering the lake.  He dug his claws into the sand in a futile effort to cease his forward momentum as a determined Lucy pushed him from behind.  The soft sand gave way under his feet, and with a squawk of indignation, he slipped from Lucy’s grip and fell backwards onto the sand.

He maintained strong eye contact with Lucy for several moments, trying to make it known to her through glare alone that he would rather do anything other than get in the water.

“Are you sure you’re not a cat?” Lucy questioned him with a sigh.  Sitting down beside him on the sand, she prodded his side with a fingertip.  “I’ve never seen a dog that feared the water as much as you seem to.”

“I’m not a dog, either,” Jackal grumbled in reply.  “I’m a canine, yeah, but not a domesticated dog.  Don’t treat me like one.”

Guilt stabbed Lucy at his words, so she nodded and conceded the point.  “Alright.  I won’t force you to go in.  And I’ll cut back on the dog jokes.”

Pleased with her answer, Jackal sat up.  With a brief shake, he dislodged what sand he could from his person.  “Also,” he added, “I’m _not_ afraid of water.”

“Uh huh.”  Lucy stared at him in disbelief.  “So why the resistance, then?  You know that was the whole point of going to a lake, right?  To get in it?  I would think that you’d like the opportunity to cool down after this latest heatwave.”

His ears flattened against his skull.  Jackal couldn’t deny that he’d like to cool down, and baths didn’t bother him in the slightest, but there was something about the wide expanse of water before him, with its unseen bottom, that had him sweating in a different way altogether.  Articulation was never his strong point, however, and he often struggled to communicate his feelings on a normal day.

Luckily, he didn’t have to this time, as rescue came from an entirely unexpected quarter.

“Call it an aftereffect of seeing what Torafuzar can do with water,” Mard Geer stated calmly as he assisted Mirajane in setting up their beach supplies.  “A… Pavlovian Response, if you will.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I know an insult when I hear it!” Jackal snarled.

Lucy covering her mouth with her hand as her boyfriend struggled to rise from the sand, slipping and falling twice more before successfully standing on his clawed feet.

Unconcerned by Jackal’s reaction, Mard Geer calmly set a lawn chair underneath Mirajane’s large beach umbrella.  Then he plopped himself down it, put on sunglasses, and opened a book.

He clearly also had zero intention of joining in on the beach fun, Lucy observed.

“Hey guys!  Want to go a round of beach volleyball?” Natsu called out to them, waving from where Erza and Gray had set up a net.  “We have an odd number of players!”

Standing up with much more ease than Jackal had, Lucy then patted him on the shoulder.  “You should go play and work off some energy, Jackal.”

The demon contemplated the offer, his eyes brightening in a way that Lucy didn’t like.  “That’s a good idea,” he said.  “And I can’t be blamed for any… stray volleyballs…”

Sweat ran down Lucy’s neck.  “I think I’ll go swim.”  And stay out of the potential blast radius.  “But you go have fun, Jackal.”

Jackal shot her a grin, before running off to join them.

“Actually, I’d like to join too,” Mirajane interjected with a smile that Lucy also did not care for.  “It’s been quite a while since I’ve played a game like this.”

With a frown, Erza crossed her arms across her chest. “But then that will bring us back to an odd number.”  She turned to the remaining members of Team Natsu.  “Happy?  Wendy?  Carla?  Would any of you like to join?”

“No way,” Happy stated bluntly.  “I’m not stupid, like Natsu.”

“Hey!  What are you saying here, furball?”

“If you weren’t dumb, you’d know,” the cat heckled Natsu, glee written across his face.

“Why you little…”

“I think I’d like to swim for a bit,” Wendy told Erza with an apologetic smile, ignoring Natsu’s mad grabs for Happy as he flew just out of the pink-haired man’s reach.  “What about you, Carla?”

Neither option seemed particularly appealing to the cat, if her sour expression was anything to judge by.

“You can make a sand castle with me!” Happy offered, flipping in the air just to further taunt Natsu.

Despite herself, Carla nodded.  “I think I’ll do that… if that’s alright with you, Wendy.”

The little dragon slayer grinned at her friend.  “That’s alright with me.”

Gray shot a nervous glance between Erza and Natsu, and then Mirajane and Jackal.  “I’m out!” he declared.  “I don’t want to die, and that will make the teams even again.  I’ll swim with Wendy and Lucy instead.”

Lucy watched with trepidation as Jackal and Mirajane teamed up against Natsu and Erza, both teams oozing power and malicious intent.

“I think we should go all the way down to the rocks over there,” Lucy suggested.

“Good choice,” Gray said.  “It’ll be safer.”

They did not regret their decision to do so as, mere minutes later, several explosions rocked the beachfront.

And not even half of those were Jackal’s fault.


	6. Chapter 6

Happy hiccupped and sobbed over the blasted pile of sand in front of him.

Patting him on the back, Carla consoled him, “There, there, tomcat.  We can just build another one.  It was probably not the wisest plan to build it right here, anyway.”  Actually, with all of the volleyballs and explosions, it was shocking that the sandcastle had remained unscathed for as long as it had.

“B-but,” Happy protested, sniffing mightily, “it won’t be as awesome as _this_ one was…”

Carla sighed.  “You’re right.  The next one will be better.  So let’s go make it.”

Happy sniffed again.  “You promise?”

With a huff, Carla rolled her eyes.  “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

“You’re the best, Carla!” declared Happy, his mood immediately lifting.  “Let’s try over here!  Oh, we should have a moat in this one!”

A slight smile on her face, Carla followed the blue exceed, well out of range of the majority of the explosions.

Over at the volleyball net, Jackal silently fumed.  No matter how hard he tried, Mard Geer remained completely unfazed by the volleyball bombs that exploded around him, or whizzed by his head.  He hadn’t even looked up when one nearly grazed him.  All that would happen was that Erza would procure another volleyball from her pocket storage dimension, Mard Geer would flip to another page, and the game would continue.

It was incredibly frustrating.

That being said, Natsu and Erza were no slouches as opponents, and were requiring more and more of his concentration in order to avoid becoming a smoking carcass on the sand.  Although Jackal had been accused on more than one occasion of “not playing nice” with others, Erza and Natsu brought that saying to a whole new level.  They were utterly ruthless, and as a creation of death, Jackal could appreciate that.  Mirajane, too, was an ideal ally, and just as brutal as Mard Geer could be, and he was mildly glad that they were on the same side.  She really was a demon queen in every sense of the word.

Eventually, Erza called a halt to the game.  “I need to replenish my supply of volleyballs and nets,” she stated bluntly, gesturing to the sizzling hole in the middle of their current one.  “So we’ll continue this match tomorrow.”

“Are you sure it isn’t because you’re losing?” taunted Jackal, having completely forgotten about his initial objective of hassling the Underworld King somewhere along the way.

Erza scowled at the demon.  “Of course not.  Besides which, your count is off.  We were the ones winning.”

“Yeah!” interjected Natsu.  “We totally had more points!”

With a smile that sent shivers down the backs of anyone with sense (none of whom were present at this time), Mirajane let out a giggle of amusement.  “Oh, Erza!  Natsu!” she laughed.  “Math really was never your strong suit growing up, was it?”

Mirajane’s blood was up, and so were the rest of the players, making for a situation much more dangerous than the playful game that had just concluded.  Anticipating something finally worth watching, Mard Geer at last closed his book and laid it down on his lap – his eyes now trained on the mages and demon.

A shriek erupted in the air, one which went apparently unheard by the volleyball group, so embroiled in their argument that they didn’t even look around for the source.

Loathe to turn his gaze away from the spectacle, but also knowing that only friends of Mirajane were present on the beach, Mard Geer reluctantly cast his gaze down the beach.  Then he sighed heavily.

“Mirajane,” he intoned, his boredom returning.  When she paused to glance at him, Mard picked up his book and turned the page with long fingers.  “It would appear that your friends have been eaten by a large icthyoid of some species or other.”  His duty complete in informing Mirajane and her friends of the situation, he resumed to his reading.

Sure enough, a pair of legs that Jackal recognized very well were dangling from the maw of a truly gargantuan fish just offshore.

_This was why you didn’t go in the water!!_


	7. Chapter 7

One rescue (and a bath) later, the group decided to settle down for lunch and a much-needed afternoon nap.

“Why does this always happen to me?” Lucy lamented quietly, picking at her food.  “If it’s not me getting kidnapped by a villain, then I’m being eaten by the local monster.  What was something like that doing in a _lake_ , anyway?  What are the odds?”

“I dunno, Luce,” Natsu commented, stuffing his face with gusto.  “Ever since you joined Fairy Tail, it’s been really eventful.  Cool stuff like this never happened before.”

This seemed to perplex Wendy.  “Really?  It didn’t?”

Nodding, Erza affirmed Natsu’s statement.  “He’s right.  Now we’re embroiled in dire circumstances every other week.  Though I must admit that it’s made life a lot more interesting.”

Gray flashed her a teasing grin.  “Maybe you’re just bad luck, Lucy.  Instead of Lucky Lucy, we should call you Unlucky Lucy instead.”

She bristled at his words and brandished a fork in his direction in a threatening manner.  “You take that back, Gray Fullbuster!  Or I’ll _show_ you some bad luck!”

Jackal observed the exchange with open interest, his eyes darting between the members of his girlfriend’s team, and Lucy’s adorably puffed out cheeks.  It had admittedly taken him some time to understand that the good-natured ribbing between the humans was something that didn’t warrant his intervention.  In fact, it had caused quite a few misunderstandings when Lucy and he had first begun dating.  Demons did not joke playfully like this.  At all.  A conversation like this, if held between the members of Tartaros previously, would have resulted in blood drawn.  Now, however… they were a subject of fascination for Jackal.  A peek into the minds of the humans that he might never have gotten if things had turned out differently than they had.

Finished eating, Lucy stood up and stretched.  “I don’t know about you guys, but…”  She paused as a yawn overtook her, raising her hand to cover her mouth.  “I’m beat.  I think it’s time for a nap after all that excitement.”

 _Nap?_   Jackal’s ears perked up at the word.  He was always down to participate in one of those.  It generally meant cuddling, something Lucy had not wanted to do much of lately due to the heat and Jackal’s fur.  Jackal felt sorely starved of affection thanks to that.

Spotting the gleam in Jackal’s eyes, Lucy sighed internally.  It was unbelievably hot out, even if it was mitigated to a small degree thanks to the lake’s vicinity.  Snuggling Jackal – as he clearly desired – would still be an unpleasant endeavor.  But indulging him every once in a while wasn’t too bad, either.

“Let’s go find a shady corner, yeah?” she told him with a smile.  Then she turned to the rest and gave them a small wave.  “We’ll see you guys later, okay?”

True to what she said, they found the perfect napping place around the back of the cabin, where a grassy area gave way to forest and at this time of the day was firmly in the shade of the trees.  The cool grass felt heavenly on Lucy’s skin as she laid down.  Soon Jackal did as well, for once in his etherious form.

Lucy sat up and shifted closer to the demon, propping her head on his fur in place of a pillow.

There was something about the physical contact that made Jackal at once both giddy with joy and at complete peace.  It was in the trust that Lucy showed every time she touched him, or allowed him to touch her.  There was no fear for his destructive touch, no reservations about what he was.  She simply accepted all of him, and he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

He may have been anarchy in its purest form… but moments like these had become infinitely precious to him, and even demons sometimes needed peace.

They both fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

It wasn’t too long after Lucy and Jackal had left for their nap that the rest of the vacationing group decided that they too were mostly done.  Cleanup was mercifully quick between them, as there hadn’t been much mess to begin with.

“The heat has grown rather intense,” Mirajane thought aloud as she wiped away the beads of sweat forming on her forehead with the back of her hand.  “Should we go swimming again to cool off?”

What she had thought of as a good idea seemed to fall flat with the others, their gazes failing to meet hers and nervous smiles tugging at their faces.  “I… kind of want to get out of the sun for now,” Wendy offered meekly when the rest were unable to respond in a timely fashion to Mirajane.  “And after the thing with the giant fish…”

The barmaid nodded.  “That’s understandable.”  A thoughtful expression crossed her face, and she raised a finger to tap against her chin.  “I’m feeling a little too energized for a nap right now, though…”

“I’m going fishing!” Natsu announced loudly, a grin spreading across his face.  “I wanna see if I can catch another fish like the one earlier!”

 _‘Of course you do,’_ everyone thought.

Oblivious to the group’s reaction to his statement, Natsu continued, “It’s really too bad what happened to the first one.  I wonder what it would have tasted like…  Too bad Jackal exploded it before I could try it.”

Erza shuddered, goosebumps popping out all over her arms at the memory of it.  Millions of tiny pieces of raining offal had perhaps been a little traumatizing for her to bear.  She rubbed her arms up and down, as if trying to scrub away the memory of the slimy fish bits that had fallen on her.

“That’s not a half bad idea though,” commented Mirajane, semi-high on malicious glee at Erza’s predicament.  She giggled when Erza shot her a glare, adopting an air of practiced innocence.  “Catching fish for dinner tonight is a good plan.  We can roast them on the beach together.”

Drool slipping down Happy’s chin at the thought, a puddle of saliva forming at his feet.  “I like the way you think, Mira.”

“Just fish for dinner doesn’t sound like a particularly balanced meal though,” Carla observed, stepping away from Happy to avoid his excessive drool.  “Shouldn’t we think of something else to go with it?”

“What about foraging in the woods?”

Mirajane looked at Erza in surprise, the redhead seemingly recovered from her funk, at least to some degree.

Erza’s image of returned composure was shattered a moment later when she added under her breath, “And it will take us away from the water…”

“I’d like to come too!” Wendy squeaked, her face gone a little pale in her own remembrance.  “I can help you identify what’s okay to eat!”

“So let’s split into two groups, then,” suggested Gray.  “One for fishing and one for gathering. Then later we can meet back up here to cook dinner and wake up the sleeping beauties.  Sound good?”  After they all chorused their agreement, the ice mage nodded himself.  “Alright, then.  I think I’ll go fishing with Natsu.”

“Awesome!” Natsu said giving his friend a high-five.

“I wanna go fishing too!” Happy declared, his paw raised up to receive a small high-five from Natsu as well.

A sweat droplet ran down Carla’s cheek.  “Surprising absolutely no one,” she commented sarcastically.  “I think I’ll go with Wendy, gathering in the woods.  It sounds like a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.”

Clapping her hands, Mirajane nodded.  “I think so too!  A walk in the woods sounds nice and cool.”  She turned towards Mard Geer with a smile.  “Which leaves only you, Mard.  What do you want to do for the afternoon?”

Displaying a rare moment of hesitation, Mard Geer glanced between the two groups, and then longingly towards his book.  “…I’ll go with… fishing,” he decided.  “Fishing is a relaxing activity for humans, correct?”

Gray clapped a hand on the demon’s shoulder, which Mard looked at in distaste.  “Not when you’re fishing with Natsu and Happy, I’m afraid.”

An uncommon emotion settled upon the Underworld King.  An unpleasant sensation settled deep in his abdominal region, and chills swept across his back.  Is this what humans referred to as dread?  Or an impending sense of doom?

“Come on, I’ll help you pick out a fishing pole,” Gray offered helpfully.  “I’m sure Erza brought plenty of spares.  I’m pretty sure she’s even prepared for the apocalypse.”

Stubborn and committed to following through when he made a decision, Mard Geer reluctantly followed Gray out of Mirajane’s line of sight.

“I know I shouldn’t, but I feel kinda bad for him,” Wendy stated.

A short while later, the pair returned with all of the fishing gear and baskets for the gathering group.

Mirajane completely lost her composure over seeing what Gray had done to her boyfriend, however.  A spluttered laugh burst from her throat before she could stop herself, and she had to cover her mouth to prevent any further outbursts of mirth, though she began to shake with the force of holding it back.  She wasn’t the only one afflicted, but only Wendy and Carla shared her reserve as Natsu and Happy simultaneously spewing laughter and saliva at the sight of the demon.  Erza, too, let out more than one chuckle at the ridiculous view.

Mard Geer scowled at them all, adjusting his fishing vest and hat full of metal hooks.  He shifted his weight, his thigh-high rubber boots squeaking at the action.  Both the boots and his khaki shorts felt decidedly uncomfortable compared to what he normally wore.  But Gray had insisted that this is what he was supposed to wear to fish.

Then again… now that he looked, neither Natsu nor Gray were wearing the same getup as him, and Gray was grinning ear to ear in a very suspicious manner.

Maybe Erza’s apocalypse preparation would come in handy after all on this vacation.


End file.
